NORTHAMPTON – Even as the lone City Council incumbent who was unseated in Tuesday’s elections warns that his voice will be missed, the victorious candidates say they are looking forward to serving on a council with a diversity of opinions.

The nine-member council will have three new faces when it is sworn in in January. Two, Ryan O'Donnell in Ward 3 and Gina Louise Sciarra in Ward 4, ran unopposed for seats that were vacated by incumbents. The third newcomer will be Alisa Klein, who defeated two-term incumbent Eugene Tacy in Ward 7 by 64 votes.

Since the results came in, Tacy has been portraying himself as the fiscal watchdog on the council, the lone wolf who refused to bay with the chorus.

“I’m flattered that I’m thought of as such a threat that they had to have the entire council working against me,” he said.

A Northampton native, Tacy lost a ward considered one of the most conservative in Northampton. Ward 7 was one of only two Northampton wards to vote against the $2.5 million Proposition 2½ override in June. Nonetheless, Tacy lost 7A, his own precinct, to Klein by enough votes to decide the election.

“I’m extremely proud of what I accomplished on the City Council,” said Tacy, who ran his own campaign. “I have no regrets.”

He then went on to take credit for a number of changes in the city during his tenure, including the dismantling of the Parking Department, and promised that a segment of the city will miss his voice.

Current and future members of the council are divided about who, if anyone, will take on Tacy’s role, but all indicated that he has grossly overstated his impact.

“He wasn’t the only one that asked tough questions,” said Owen Freeman-Daniels, who did not run for reelection in Ward 3. His seat was won by newcomer Ryan O’Donnell. Freeman-Daniels said he asked at least as many tough questions as Tacy during their time together on the council. He does not know enough about O’Donnell to predict whether or not he will continue in that role.

“No one stands out as a fiscal watchdog, but it’s premature to judge,” he said.

Former Building Commission Anthony Patillo’s attempt to win one of the two at-large seats held by incumbents William H. Dwight and Jesse Adams was literally hobbled by hip surgery. Patillo said he began experiencing pain after he turned in his papers for office and it only got worse. Doctor’s found a mass on his hip they thought could be cancerous. His hip also had to be irradiated to prevent bone spurs. Unable to walk, Patillo dropped out of the sight in the weeks leading up to the election.

Patillo is cancer-free now and in recovery, but he was irked when the moderator at a debate among at-large candidates told the audience he had declined to respond to a request to attend.

“I let them know I had serious medical issues,” said Patillo, who still managed to get 1,838 votes. “It’s not the campaign I would have run, but it was the hand I was dealt.”

Patillo had also promised to speak for those whose voices he believes have not been heard, particularly people who are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the cost of living in Northampton. He does not know if any members of the next council will take up that mantle.

“I pray they will, but I’m not confident they will,” he said.

Klein, a public policy consultant for agencies focused on peace and violence prevention, believes she simply outworked Tacy in Ward 7.

“We beat every bush for votes,” she said.

According to Klein, the demographics in Ward 7 are changing. She said she hopes to speak for all her constituents.

“The important thing is I want to be able to represent everyone,” she said. “I’m an independent thinker. I look at issues incisively and do my due diligence.”

Dwight, who retained his at-large seat along with Adams, said many of the changes Tacy is taking credit for have nothing to do with Tacy.

“That’s an unfortunate and simplistic narrative,” he said, “but Gene is entitled to his perspective about why he lost.”

The sitting council, Dwight said, has had plenty of different perspectives.

“There have been more divided votes than I’ve ever seen,” he said.

He called Freeman-Daniels a “gift” on the council and said he expects Adams to assume some of that responsibility. Dwight also thinks Patillo would have been “great” as a city councilor.

In the other contested races, incumbents Marianne LaBarge and Paul Spector defeated their challengers. Spector said Jason Foster was the most serious opponent he has had.

“It’s a good thing to have a challenger,” he said.

Spector says the end of his political career is in sight, but has not put a time limitation on it. He disputed both Tacy’s assertion that he was the council’s fiscal watchdog and his claims about his accomplishments.

“Maybe sometimes he misspeaks about the things that he takes credit for,” he said.

Spector also dismissed the notion that the council is one-sided in its thinking.

“The city councilors I know make sure we represent all the people of Northampton,” he said.

In the race for the two at-large seats on the School Committee, incumbent Blue Duval and newcomer Kari Nykorchuck emerged victorious over first-time candidate Samuel Wilson. Incumbents Michael Cahillane, Thomas Fitzgerald and John Cotton won reelection to the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School board of trustees, handily beating challengers John Lind and Dennison Wolf.